“The Psystar story takes another twist as the company now vows to stand up against Goliath Apple promising to fight Apple’s end user license agreement that accompanies Mac OS X 10.5,” Travis Hudson reports for PC World.
“Psystar recently unveiled a $399 Mac Clone called the OpenMac, which has similar internal hardware as Apple’s $2000 Mac Pro. The kicker is that the Psystar computer runs on the Mac OS X. Psystar is now in clear violation of Apple’s EULA,” Hudson reports.
“Now Psystar has come out of the gates swinging as it plans on fighting Apple’s EULA by slinging around some antitrust law violations,” Hudson reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: As of this article’s timestamp, Psystar continues to sell their “Open Computer” (née “OpenMac”) for US$399 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor, 2GB of DDR2 667 memory, Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics, 20x DVD+/-R SATA drive that is Lightscribe-capable, 4 rear USB Ports) and their “OpenPro Computer” starting at US$999 for the base configuration (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz, GB of DDR2 RAM, GeForce 8600GT 512MB, 150GB 10,000RPM hard drive) via their website (which actually seems to work today).
We wondered what happens when Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.3 and subsequent updates? From Psystar’s FAQ: It’s best to check the web for this information but when in doubt don’t update it. You may have to reinstall your OS X if it is a non-safe update.
Cringe, then shudder.
This is all a publicity stunt. Other outfits have tried this before and are today nowhere to be found.
They are about to lose all their money paying legal fees trying to fight Apple over selling unlicensed intellectual and trade property developed by and belonging to Apple Inc.
Checked out their site yesterday… the $399 is a lost leader. I priced out a base model at $799. I can get an iMac refurb for that.
MDN’s take is absolutely spot on. This is nothing more than an upstart company saying, “Here we are! Look at us! We’re the good guys!” They, too, will either become PC uglybox assemblers, or they will simply disappear into the ephemera of wannabe’s.
“which has similar internal hardware as Apple’s $2000 Mac Pro.”
??? Yeah right!
Sounds intriguing… sort of like for all the people who don’t want to go through all of the time and effort to hack their Dell to run os x.
Okay, whoever owns this “company” is either the biggest idiot on the planet or the most brilliant.
There’s no middle ground here.
In other words, it’s either the obvious (they have no right and will be shut down immediately) or they found some legal loophole that nobody ever saw coming.
I call bullshit on this unless you are the type of person that doesn’t want wheels when buying a car.
You have to pay to add stuff (at a cost to make it work) like the OS? How about a DVD-burner? Firewire? A reasonable graphics card?
Funny how the costs go up and at the end, it may not work with the next Leopard upgrade.
Oh yeah…I want one…..
will this site ever give balanced views on apple, im not saying what psystar is doing is right just that MDN should point out the positives of this situation as well as the negatives.
So i will add one or two
1)a product like this could bring OS X to the masses, the masses of people that want to try apple but dont feel they can afford to take the risk
2)it shows how badly overpriced apple hardware is
3)it may push apple into upgrading its mac mini line and show apple that if handled correctly it could be a soarway success
yes build em cheap stack em high is not the apple way you say, so what exactly have they done with the ipod line then??? they have products at every price point and to achieve mass market as apple must surely wish then they need to do the same with the mac. The ipod mini/nano story shows that apple can do this without damaging its brand.
Psystar will come and go like those before it. In the meantime enjoy the sensationalism!
More power to them. If that’s what it takes for Apple to get the message that we want more choices than the all-in-one iMac or the non-upgradeable mac mini. Give us a mini tower or allow us to buuild our own systems and ran OSX.
sounds like the ultimate gift for the mother-in-law you really love!!!
“Now Psystar has come out of the gates swinging…”
That’s a mixed metaphor isn’t it? Who comes out of a “gate” while “swinging”?
@macattack,
1) There is more risk with one of these than a true Mac. One of these might not work at all after the next update.
2) How is Apple hardware badly overpriced when it is roughly the same price as comparable systems. Apple’s lack of low cost systems isn’t the same as what they do offer being overpriced.
3) It’s likely this will be crushed so quickly no information will be generated regarding demand. If Apple adjusts their stable at all in response to this, it is more likely they develop the missing mini-tower.
Yesterday, their address was 10645 SW 112th St, Miami, FL. Someone noted in their forum that the location is a residence. Suddenly, today their address is 10481 NW 28th St, Miami, FL, which is an industrial area.
Sounds like Psystar is a load of BS.
There is no doubt that these guys don’t have a leg to stand on…MDN is absolutely correct in their assessment…For PC World to claim that $399 is the true price of the computer (that doesn’t even include an OS), or that it’s similar to the Mac Pro’s hardware is embarrassing for a tech rag. People are trying to create hit traffic and portray Apple as the bad guy…De rigeur of late…Go to Psystar’s site and it’s full of jabs at Apple’s pricing…pathetic. Magic Word: “coming”…As in “OpenMac: NOT coming to a desk near you”.
you completely miss macattacks point, he is neither purporting the psystar computer nor decrying it, he is balancing up MDN’s biased journalism for them,
also name calling without explanation of why you think that is evidence of the dumbed down world we are living in
I speced out the OpenPro to about $1000 less than a comparable mac pro. But the mac pro has a xeon chip so you gotta add that extra cost to the OpenPro to match exactly… then there is no firewire…. lame, now I need to go out and buy a firewire card, Keyboard and mouse??? does it even come with one? If not … add that to the OpenPro cost. Firewire 800? nope.. add that too…iLife already on the mac… add that to the cost. So when it comes down to it…. They aren’t that far off at all and the mac pro looks a shit load better. To top it off as someone mentioned.. will it even work with the new leopard release??
sorry yes the poster above is quite correct, i am not for or against this system, i was actually making a point about the quality of the writing on this site, its one sided cult like to the point of propaganda.
Good journalism is about balance and reason. I made those remarks simply to try and engage the readers brains a little more than the article did.
” . . . come out of the gates swinging…”
I think it’s “come out of Gates swigging” and getting blind drunk afterwards because you can’t believe what you just did.
“similar internal hardware as Apple’s $2000 Mac Pro”
This is so off-base. Looking at the specs it appears closer to the Mini.
@Raymond:
My thoughts exactly: that’s like saying “a new Hyundai, with similar specs to a Ferrari…”
These guys need to be careful and research what they say before spewing stuff like this!
John
Wow, Psystar.com opens almost as fast as MDN…
Good journalism is NOT about balance. It is about truth and accuracy.
@ Jim:
It’s not ‘lost’ leader’ and its not that its just MISleading.
They are picking the wrong fight.
Their product is not worth investing in…
– no guaranty that would run future Mac OS releases
– cheap parts
– little chance that they will be around to support their product
– the few who really need to explore this option have already installed Mac OS X on their non-Apple boxes.